There’s no question about it: boxing has become one of my absolute favorite workouts. Not only does working the bag test your endurance and power, it’s a great full body workout, provides a healthy outlet for negative stress, and leaves you with a sense of confidence [read: bad-assery].
Once I got over the initial excitement and novelty of hitting something for fun, I began to struggle with my boxing workouts. I had no real idea how to pace myself or structure a bag workout. I felt like I wasn’t accomplishing much, and became angry and frustrated. Then I felt as if I had to channel all of that pent-up energy to produce real power; to get angry and attack the bag. The problem was, I was digging up all of these negative emotions I thought I would work out on the bag, but when I finished a workout, I still had that anger, which left me even more frustrated, and thus created a vicious cycle. It’s only been in the past year that I’ve learned to “box healthy,” meaning I’m not solely using the bag to rid myself of any unresolved anger, and inversely, I’m not relying on anger to fuel a good workout. Instead, boxing is a positive outlet to prove my strength and my power to myself. A big part of that was learning how to mix and match my workouts, and changing up my motivation!
This post will provide suggestions on how to structure a boxing workout, as well as give some suggestions on upbeat and motivational music to listen to while grinding it out.
First off, let me say that these workouts focus on working a heavybag as a cardio workout. As I don’t professionally train or compete as a boxer, I tend to use boxing as a [super awesome, epic, invigorating] form of cardio, rather than focus on drilling. If you’re interested in getting some new bag drills, I highly recommend Shane Fazen’s FightTips! He has some great stuff both for training and general self-defense that everyone can benefit from!
Option 1: Tack on a Strength Circuit
Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how hard or how long I go on the bag, there’s still this pent-up energy coursing through me at the end. I leave the bag like a live-wire, as though I still have adrenaline in my veins. The solution? Drive out that extra energy with a strength training circuit!
In this stucture, I do all my bag work at once. The basic pattern is to go for 30-40 minutes on the bag using one song intervals, meaning go hard for the duration of a song, 30-60 second rest to grab water, change music, adjust gloves etc., then back on the bag for the next song. Be sure to mix up your approach on each song! Try working switch-stance for every other song, or focus on your jabs and crosses during one song, then add in your uppercuts and hooks for the next, and finally, utilize all your punches and end each combination with a kick.
Another style I like is alternating different aspects of my bag work. For one full song, I’ll focus on my technique, making sure I have good footwork, approach, and form. Next, I work on speed, throwing as many punches and kicks as I can. Finally [normally the last round!] I focus on power, throwing my punches as hard as I can, digging deep and ripping into the bag.
When done right, boxing is a great full body workout, but there’s no denying that your arms, back, and shoulders take the brunt of the beating. My favorite way to combat lingering adrenaline is by alternating lower body and core strength circuits. This way, I get to work the areas not in direct contact with the bag, as well as work off that end-of-the-workout energy.
While I’d love to say I’ve programmed my own perfect strength circuit, I must admit, I have yet to design anything that rivals Lindsey Bomgren’s strictly strength lower body dumbbell workout and 390 reps, abs of steel from Nourish Move Love. These circuits provide the perfect balance of being challenged and feeling accomplishment. Since these are weighted and used here as a wind-down from the high intensity bag work, focus more on good form rather than speed, and don’t be afraid to go heavy on the weights!
Option 2: Create a HIIT Boxing Circuit
HIIT circuits are a power athlete’s best friend! They’re high-intensity, and break up the monotomy of doing one thing for a long period of time. Let’s face it, towards the end of a long bag workout, we start to slip. We get tired, our footwork slows, our hands drop, we’re sloppy. A boxing HIIT workout can be a great design here by adding variety and sending us back to the bag re-energized and ready to dig in for Round 2 (and 3, and 4, 5…)
When I do use this structure, I follow the same pattern as option 1, going hard on the bag for 1 full song. Then I hit the mat for some strength moves before going back and repeating.
Shown here is my preferred boxing HIIT workout! Note that each round consists of one core exercise, one lower body exercise, and one cardio exercise [gotta get those burpees!] Repeat the round two times before returning to the bag for another song and another round!
Motivation
My first year of boxing, I fell into the stereotype of “get angry!” I thought, “I’m tearing into an 80-pound, leather bound bag, I want to be strong, I want to show my power, of course I need angry music.” I compulsively skipped every song on Pandora that wasn’t Eminem, XAmbassadors, or Halestorm. And those songs are great, don’t get me wrong! They got me to tap into that raw side of boxing, to rip into the bag and work all my aggression. But I started to notice that at the end of my workouts, I wasn’t feeling any better; it was like they stirred up all this adrenaline that could never completely be burned off.
So I changed up my approach. I started looking more towards epic than powerful, inspiring rather than provoking. That’s not to say I don’t still enjoy Wicked Ways, Heavy, or anything by Eminem [including D12 and Bad Meets Evil] during my workouts, but I do have a more varied selection now to get the most out of my workout.
Below is my current top songs to listen to when working on the bag. Let me know if any of your favorites made the list, or what your favorite grind song is!
I also want to share this amazing video I stumbled upon last summer while looking for workout motivation. This clip is a beautifully made edit of epic music and inspiring speeches, put seamlessly together to drive your best workout ever! The timing is great, the messages are awesome, and it’s versatile enough to get me through any of my workouts: whether I’m hitting the bag, running the trails, or even flowing through some yoga.
I hope this helps you plan your next bag workout and inspires you to hit it hard, because somehow, there’s nothing quite as relaxing as hitting something as hard as you can for as long as you can!
bFit bFearless 